7: Chapter 7 Liu Heihu

This time, when they set out, Su Yunxia wanted to take all the valuable things from home, like pots and quilts.

Su Jiuchuan couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time, though he couldn't blame her; the family had suffered for so many years.

All the household items in that room had been saved up, one copper coin at a time.

With the world in such chaos now, who knew which godforsaken thief would snatch up all their meager belongings.

Su Jiuchuan tried to reason with her, and in the end, he had to bring up Fuyuan Escort Agency, saying that it was already generous of them to take them along, and they had no obligation to help move all their stuff...

Only then did Su Yunxia reluctantly hide the items inside the house.

Once everything was packed, it was already dark; the two of them slipped out of the city under the cover of night and met up with Zheng Xinyue outside the city walls.

Fuyuan Escort Agency didn't have many people, only seven or eight.

Zheng Xinyue knew this was a flight from disaster and couldn't make a big scene, so she only selected a few reliable people.

To the outside world, she only claimed they had a small business transaction, escorting a shipment outside the city.

Su Jiuchuan looked around and, not seeing the man with the horizontal face, couldn't help but nod inwardly.

It seemed Zheng Xinyue was a sensible person; keeping someone like the man with the horizontal face, who lacked any judgment, by her side would sooner or later lead to trouble.

Zheng Xinyue and Su Jiuchuan discussed it and decided to have the escort agency take Su Yunxia and continue towards Xuzhou, while the two of them prepared to scout Black Wind Stronghold.

In one of Su Jiuchuan's simulations, Lan Guping only appeared after he had killed Chieftain Li Heihu.

Therefore, there should be a time difference here.

At that time, Lan Guping probably wasn't at the stronghold; he must have arrived later and happened to run into them.

The pressure Lan Guping put on Su Jiuchuan was simply too great; he really didn't want to face him right now.

As long as they moved quickly, there was still a chance they wouldn't run into him.

Black Wind Stronghold was located in a perilous spot amidst the rolling mountains.

The terrain was elevated, surrounded by earthen walls several meters high, with only one gate for entry and exit.

Such an environment was easy to defend and difficult to attack, making it a decent location.

However, for Martial Artists like Zheng Xinyue and Su Jiuchuan, it was lacking.

The two of them silently crept to the edge of the earthen wall, found a suitable spot, and vaulted inside.

There were only a few lights around the stronghold, and a few shabbily dressed bandits were patrolling.

Zheng Xinyue was clearly more experienced; she moved quickly along the earthen wall, while Su Jiuchuan, doing this for the first time, naturally followed closely behind.

Finally, at one spot along the wall, they discovered a slacking bandit leaning against the wall, fast asleep.

With a cold dagger pressed against his throat, the bandit woke up from his slumber in a panic.

"Don't move, or I'll kill you!"

"Are the people from Fuyuan Escort Agency in the stronghold?"

The bandit, having just woken up from his dream and facing the gleaming dagger, nodded tremblingly.

"Lead the way!"

With just that low shout, the bandit was so scared he wet his pants, and a stench of urine wafted out.

Zheng Xinyue pushed Su Jiuchuan to the front in disgust.

Su Jiuchuan was also speechless; along the way, he had seen her agile skills and experienced conduct, never expecting her to show such a girlish side when encountering a situation like this.

Under duress, the bandit tiptoed towards an adobe house in the center of the stronghold.

The house was pitch black, with absolutely no lights.

In this era, fuel was extremely precious, and ordinary families rarely lit lamps at night, let alone in a remote stronghold.

Thus, the two of them didn't suspect anything.

However, at this moment, if they had torches in their hands, they would have seen a flash of cunning in the bandit's eyes.

As they passed a haystack, the bandit suddenly stumbled, kicking over a pile of hay nearby.

"Someone has infiltrated the stronghold!" the bandit shouted.

Zheng Xinyue hadn't expected the bandit, who seemed timid and cowardly, to actually pull this trick.

Furious, she thrust her dagger forward, killing the bandit instantly.

Su Jiuchuan and his companion knew that hiding was meaningless now, so they drew their weapons and ran towards the adobe house.

"Damn it, who dares to mess with Black Wind Stronghold!"

A roar erupted, torches gradually lit up all around, and a burly man emerged from among the bandits.

By the flickering torchlight, Su Jiuchuan saw he was over two meters tall, with dark skin, a massive frame, and an open collar revealing a tattoo of a ferocious tiger.

"This is the chieftain of Black Wind Stronghold, Liu Heihu!" Zheng Xinyue said with a grave expression.

Although she was also an 8th Grade Martial Artist, this Black Wind Stronghold chieftain had been famous for a long time, and she wasn't confident she could handle him.

By this time, the area was already filled with bandits.

Zheng Xinyue and Su Jiuchuan said nothing and charged straight in, cutting down two or three bandits.

Next, four or five more bandits fell to the ground, causing Chieftain Li Heihu to roar in anger.

"Get out of the way, watch me!" After saying this, he charged over.

Su Jiuchuan didn't look at Zheng Xinyue and charged straight ahead, just as the two were about to make contact.

He suddenly raised his hand and flung a large handful of lime powder.

The light was dim at this moment, and Liu Heihu hadn't expected a ranked Martial Artist to be so shameless as to use lime powder.

Caught off guard, he was struck directly in the eyes by the lime.

"Ah!" With a miserable scream, Liu Heihu hurriedly closed his eyes and slashed his broadsword wildly in all directions to defend against any potential attacks.

Su Jiuchuan quickly circled behind him, kicked Liu Heihu down, and already had his steel blade pressed against his throat.

The other bandits, seeing this situation, knew the game was up and scattered in all directions.

Zheng Xinyue didn't move; she had originally expected a tough battle and hadn't anticipated that the problem would be solved so quickly.

She didn't even notice that Su Jiuchuan was now a 7th Grade Martial Artist.

However, the way she looked at Su Jiuchuan now was somewhat complex.

For people in the Jianghu, losing a fight meant losing—it was just being less skilled than the other person, and there was nothing more to say.

However, after becoming a Martial Artist, resorting to underhanded tactics like throwing lime powder was truly despicable.

Of course, it wasn't as if there weren't people in the Jianghu who would stop at nothing, but most of them didn't have very good reputations.

Correspondingly, few people were willing to provoke such people; after all, if you offended an opponent with no bottom line, it was truly a headache.

Seeing Zheng Xinyue's expression, Su Jiuchuan roughly guessed what she was thinking.

However, he didn't care; he didn't have all the hang-ups of the Jianghu people of this era.

Using the most practical methods to solve problems was his guiding principle for handling things.

As for what others thought? While he was still struggling to survive, he had no way to consider that.

"What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and go find the people from your escort agency!"

Zheng Xinyue finally snapped out of it; she nodded hurriedly and turned to run towards the adobe house in the center of the stronghold.

Until she was far away, Su Jiuchuan only then patted Liu Heihu's fat face with the back of his blade and asked, "Speak, how much money do you intend to pay to buy your dog life?"